The First Time Lily Got Asked Out
by caramelsong
Summary: Lily stared after her, not sure about what just happened. "Did I just-?"  "Got points for socking Potter? Yes!" Marlene said ecstatically. "You sure showed him, Lily!"


_I know it's rubbish, but I feel bad for not updating Ray of Light. So, here's a one shot! As usual, I own nothing you recognize._

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_October 1977_

Most of the students at Hogwarts looked forward to Hogsmeade weekends.

It was a day where they can enjoy themselves and forget all the stress caused by schoolwork. James Potter always loved going out of the castle to enjoy the sights of the village, just him and his friends. But today was different. His mother owled him to say that she wants to have lunch with him, so he nervously prepared himself for what she was about to say. He knew that the situation outside the walls of Hogwarts was dire, but the thought of seeing his mother made him happy.

"Hey, Evans!" he called as he spotted her walking with her friends across the Entrance Hall. She looked back at him and smiled at him. But she still said "No."

He was set to have lunch with his mother at noon, so he decided to go walk around the village first. He spotted Lily again, giggling with Marlene McKinnon and Alice Prewett before entering the Three Broomsticks.

"Evans!" he hollered. "Hey, Evans!"

Lily turned to look at him and nodded. "What?" she yelled back.

"Go out with me the next trip?"

She paused at the door, grinned and said, "We'll see."

He just winked at her in response.

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"James is flirting with you again," commented Alice off-handedly.

"Ooh, and Lily's blushing!" Marlene added, pointing at Lily's face. Lily swatted her hand away. "Quit it!" she snapped. "He was just being his usual self."

"He really likes you!" Alice teased as the three of them made their way inside.

"He is being his usual cocky self," Lily said, her eyes scanning for an empty table. She noticed that all of them were full, except for one, where a woman sat alone. She looked to be about fifty, but she still looked active, with her deep brown hair flecked with grey.

"There's no more space here! I'm so tired and I don't want to go to Puddifoot's or the Hog's Head, they're both disgusting," said Alice, wrinkling her nose.

"Well, we could always ask that nice lady over there, she seems alone!" Marlene pointed at the table where the lone woman was.

"I guess we can always ask her," Lily said slowly. He friends pulled her towards the table before she could change her mind.

"Excuse me, do you have company?" Marlene asked the woman cautiously. The woman beamed at them and said, "Go ahead, girls, I could use some company right now. I'm waiting for someone, but he's not coming in until noon."

"Thank you," Lily said, "we promise we'll go before that."

"Oh, there's no need!" the woman insisted. "I think the more people, the merrier."

The girls sat down next to her. "Rosmerta, dear, would you get these lovely young ladies something to drink? What would you like, girls?"

"Oh, no, it's okay, we can get it ourselves!" Lily said, waving her hands in front of her.

"Well, hello there, Elizabeth!" Madam Rosmerta said as she approached their table. "It's good to see you here today," then she grinned at the girls, "hello, girls! How's school?"

"Awful," Marlene said distastefully. "We're buried underneath homework and exams and I swear Professor McGonagall is trying to suffocate us!"

"What's more is that James Potter is still after Lily, as usual," Alice contributed brightly earning a glare from the redhead.

"Still fancies her!" Marlene giggled, "He becomes more persistent every day!"

Madam Rosmerta and the woman called Elizabeth exchanged amused glances.

"Boy problem, eh?" Madam Rosmerta said knowingly. "James has been asking Lily out for four years," she told Elizabeth. "Lily has been saying 'no' for four years too."

"Really?" Elizabeth said, looking interested. "Any particular reason why?"

"I wasn't really fond of him when we started out," Lily explained. "He had a lot of unsatisfactory aspects to his personality."

"But now…" Marlene said, trailing off suggestively, looking expectantly at Lily.

"What?" Lily said, staring at her friend like she was crazy. "What do you want me to say?"

"Didn't you just say that James was suddenly fanciable?"

"Is that even a word?" Lily asked, amused.

Marlene ignored her. "But anyway, it all started in third year, when we were all planning our first Hogsmeade trip."

"Third year was a year of firsts," said Alice wisely. "First time to Hogsmeade, first time we started fancying boys and the first time Lily was asked out," she finished with a grin.

"Lily was walking to Double Charms with Snape when Hestia Jones, a Ravenclaw in our year, called her over to return some notes," Marlene started.

"_Thanks, Lily!" said Hestia, handing over some loose sheets of parchment. "These are real life-savers, your notes."_

"_No problem," Lily smiled, taking them and putting them inside her bag. "I'm glad they helped you."_

_But Hestia was no longer paying attention to her. She was looking over Lily's shoulder with an odd expression on her face. Lily stared at her quizzically and looked back- there was Snape, still on the spot she left him on, but he was now surrounded by James Potter and his little gang. Lily's eyes went wide and she ran off, saying a hasty good-bye to Hestia._

"_Sod off, Potter!" Snape was saying._

"_After you dropped those porcupine quills in my potion and made it explode? I don't think so!" James sneered. "I'd like to repay the favour."_

"_Leave him alone, Potter!" Lily shrieked as she got closer to them. "You arrogant git, leave him alone!"_

"_Why should I, Evans? James challenged, his arms folded defiantly. "If I don't, what are you going to do about it?"_

_Lily heard the students around them laughing. Even some of the Slytherins were watching their squabble._

"_What are you going to do about it, Evans?" James repeated, walking towards her. She glared at him hatefully, her hands balled into fists. James was sneering at her, obviously confident in his abilities, but before she realized what she was doing, she pulled her fist back and punched him square in the nose._

_Everyone went quiet, gaping at the petite redhead, who was still fuming. James Potter lay on the floor, staring at her in shock, clutching his broken nose. Even his friends can't move, they were too busy looking at Lily, who didn't seem to realize what happened. She snapped out of it and stared at her hand._

"_Blimey, Evans!" Sirius Black said, finally able to find his voice. "You didn't have to hit him!"_

"_He asked for it!" Lily said shrilly, panic in her voice. "He was too close and I don't like it!"_

"_Remind me never to cross you again, Lily, alright?" Alice said in mock fear._

"_What's going on in here?" asked Professor McGonagall, looking at the scene in front of her: Lily still looking surprised, James clutching his bleeding nose and his friends all surrounding him._

"_Miss Evans!" she said to a scared-looking Lily, "What did you do?"_

_Lily stood straight and looked Professor McGonagall straight in the eyes. "I punched Potter, Professor."_

"_Why?" Professor McGonagall didn't look angry at all, but she was watching Lily with interested eyes._

"_He was annoying Severus," she answered simply, looking down at Potter in distaste. _

"_Miss Evans, fighting is not condoned here," Professor McGonagall said sternly. "Ten points from Gryffindor for hitting Mr Potter. But," she added, "for standing up for your friend, I give you five points. Now you may go. Everyone, back to class!"_

_Lily stared after her, not sure about what just happened. "Did I just-?"_

"_Got points for socking Potter? Yes!" Marlene said ecstatically. "You sure showed him, Lily!"_

"_I didn't mean to," Lily defended, "I was just ticked off when he was bullying Sev."_

"_Who cares? You showed him!"_

_Everyone avoided crossing Lily all day. _

_The next day, Potter came up to her during breakfast. They stared at each other, Lily expecting a full apology, while James was shifting nervously._

"_Er-"_

"_If you're here to apologize, fine," Lily said before he could finish, "Just leave Sev alone."_

"_I'm not here to apologize!" he stared at her, aghast at the suggestion. "I want to ask you to Hogsmeade this weekend."_

_It was now Lily's turn to look shocked. Then she laughed derisively. "You're kidding, right? After all you've done to me and to Severus, do you really expect me to say yes? Besides, you spent a good part of the last two years telling me that you dislike me!"_

"_Yeah, but-"_

"_But what?" she demanded, eyes blazing. "You thought I will fall at your feet?"_

"_That's not it, Evans!"_

"_Do you want me to hit you again?"_

_Lily stood up from her seat, and without turning to look at him again, she left the Great Hall._

"That was priceless!" Marlene chortled, smiling at the memory. "James Potter got what he deserved!"

"I did feel bad about it," Lily admitted. "He looked like he was in serious pain."

"But that was only the beginning part of James and Lily's story," Alice said, accepting a Butterbeer from Madam Rosmerta, "She still refuses to go out with him, even though he's been decent since last year."

"I know he has!" Lily blushed furiously, "But it's become more of a matter of principle now."

"Oh, suck up your pride!" chided Marlene, waving her drink so violently it spilled on her shirt. She sighed, took out her wand and patiently siphoned the soda off.

"You know," Elizabeth said suddenly, making the three girls turn to her, "If a boy makes an effort to change for you, you should really give him a chance."

"You think so?" Lily asked, sceptical.

"Yes," Elizabeth nodded.

Lily grinned. "I think we should go," she said, gazing at her friends, who nodded. "We bothered you enough already."

"It's no problem," Elizabeth responded, returning the smile.

"You gave me something to think about," the redhead said as she left. "Thank you."

Elizabeth simply nodded and waved goodbye.

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_December 1977_

"I'm kind of nervous, James, do you think your parents will like me?" Lily said, twiddling her thumbs. They were about ten minutes to King's Cross and James's parents were fetching them from the station.

"Don't worry, they'll adore you," James assured her, holding her close. She smiled serenely at the warmth of his body against hers, all of her worries evaporating at his words.

The train came to a stop at the platform and James craned his neck to look for his parents. Sirius, too, was looking around for Mr and Mrs Potter and it was him who spotted them coming.

"James, they're here."

James turned to where Sirius was pointing and beamed. There was James's father, who looked a lot like his son, and his mother, who was waving at them. Lily squinted her eyes to see clearer, surely it wasn't?

"Hello, dear, how nice to see you again," Elizabeth Potter greeted Lily warmly, pulling her into a hug.

"You-you're his mother?" Lily said in disbelief as she hugged her back.

"Surprised?" Elizabeth chuckled. "I'm sorry dear, but sometimes, I just can't help being a meddlesome old lady." There was a glint of mischief in her hazel eyes.

"No, it's okay, you helped me a lot," Lily said. "But you should have said so! Oh, of all the stories! They told you the worst one!" She buried her face in her hands.

"Oh, it was alright! No harm done."

"Er-" James cleared his throat. "Is there something you're not telling me?"

"No," the two women chorused, and then looked guiltily at each other.

James arched his eyebrow, but didn't say anything further.

"Oh, and James?" Elizabeth said as they walked out of the platform.

"Yes?" James looked curious, holding Lily's hand.

Elizabeth nodded towards Lily and winked at her. "Take good care of her, this one's a keeper."

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REVIEW PLEASE!

Oh, and to those who are reading my other story, "A Ray of Light"… I'm so sorry! I got a major writer's block when I was writing Chapter 6 and I was trying to get out of it. I'm now back on track though, thanks to inspiration from a Japanese drama called Hana Yori Dango which I'm currently obsessing on (I got this story's idea from that show…I'm guilty of spending a lot of time watching), but it'll take a while. I'm travelling to my hometown for a week and I don't have a computer there. I can't take my laptop either, but I'll be writing on pen and paper and I'll be set to type it out once I get back.

Thanks, guys, love yah!


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